2015 News Releases

Kansas City woman ordered to repay Kansas Medicaid Program for home health fraud

Release Date: May 07, 2015

OLATHE – (May 7, 2015) – A Kansas City woman was ordered today to repay more than $4,600 to the Kansas Medicaid program after pleading guilty to charges of Medicaid fraud, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said.

Michelle Ferguson, 31, Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty in March in Johnson County District Court to Making a False Claim to the Medicaid Program. Judge Thomas K. Ryan today ordered Ferguson to repay $4,691.27 to the Kansas Medicaid Program in addition to sentencing her to 12 months probation, during which time Ferguson is prohibited from being employed in a capacity where she would receive wages from a government healthcare program.

An investigation found that Ferguson falsely billed the Medicaid program for more than 600 hours of home health care services while her clients were hospitalized or deceased and while Ferguson was in jail.

The case was part of “Operation No Show,” a cooperative effort between the attorney general’s office and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Office of Inspector General to investigate fraudulent billing to Medicaid for personal care services provided in Medicaid beneficiaries’ homes. Today’s sentencing brings to a close the third case in this joint effort to crack down on those who take advantage of these federal and state administered healthcare programs. More than $260,000 in restitution payable to the Kansas Medicaid program has been ordered as a result of these efforts.

Other joint investigations are ongoing. The cases are being jointly investigated by federal and state authorities and prosecuted by the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division. Assistant Attorney General Stefani Hepford of Schmidt’s office prosecuted the case against Ferguson.